Best PlacesShieldsville, MN Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Shieldsville, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Local pay runs high here, and housing takes the biggest bite out of it. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Shieldsville ranks 9,799th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on state infrastructure by a wide margin, and empty homes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Shieldsville
BestNeighborhood is the only ranking that scores 40 measures of daily life neighborhood by neighborhood and lets you re-weight every one of them yourself.
Shieldsville's strengths and weaknesses
Where Shieldsville ranks high
- State infrastructureBetter than 93% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than 93% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 87% of towns
- Household income$102,392 median, better than 86% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than 84% of towns
Where Shieldsville ranks low
- Low vacancyBetter than only 10% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than only 19% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 20% of towns
- Cheap childcare$1,079 a month, better than only 20% of towns
- BikingBetter than only 29% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Shieldsville
A household needs to earn about $113,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Shieldsville home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is only a little above the area's median income of $102,392; the gap is small, which keeps homes within reach of local pay.
Where the monthly payment goes
Assumes a 20% down payment, a 6.6% 30-year fixed rate, and a 28% share of income going to the payment. The rate is the 2026-07-23 30-year fixed average, series MORTGAGE30US from the St. Louis Fed, which publishes Freddie Mac's weekly survey. Against the median home value, property tax uses Shieldsville's effective rate of 0.83%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Renting versus buying
At today's prices and rents, renting stays cheaper than buying across the first 10 years here, so the case for buying rests on staying much longer or on prices rising faster than assumed. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Shieldsville
Shieldsville runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Shieldsville.
Who works in Shieldsville, and how
Work in Shieldsville centers on health care & social and manufacturing. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 84%
- Work from home 11%
- Transit, walk, or bike 5%
Life in Shieldsville
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Shieldsville.
What the weather is like in Shieldsville, month by month
Shieldsville sees roughly 122 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 83 degrees. January highs sit near 25, with lows near 10. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 25° | 17° | 10° |
| April | 56° | 45° | 36° |
| July | 83° | 72° | 63° |
| October | 61° | 50° | 41° |
Flying in and out of Shieldsville
Minneapolis-St Paul International/Wold-Chamberlain sits about 38 miles away. It is a large hub and boarded 17.5 million passengers in 2025, with 195 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around Shieldsville
Schools across Shieldsville average a C+, better than 48% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Waterville ElementaryA · 63% proficient
- Lonsdale Pre K-6B · 47% proficient
- Montgomery Pre K-8B− · 43% proficient
Top middle schools
- Morristown ElementaryB · 47% proficient
- Waterville-elysian-morristown Jr.C · 35% proficient
- Faribault MiddleD · 22% proficient
Top high schools
- Waterville-elysian-morristown Sr.B− · 45% proficient
- Tri-city United High SchoolC+ · 40% proficient
- Faribault Senior HighC · 33% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Shieldsville school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Shieldsville measure by measure
Cards are ordered by how much each measure matters to you, so the ones you weighted highest come first. Expand to see every measure. Percentages compare Shieldsville against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Shieldsville
Is Shieldsville a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Shieldsville ranks 9,799th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on state infrastructure, health care access, and what local pay buys, and lowest on empty homes and walkability. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Shieldsville expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $432,027. The overall cost of living runs about 7% below the national average. Set against a $102,392 median income, cost of living beats 87% of towns.
Is Shieldsville safe?
Yes, Shieldsville is safer than 77% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $229 per resident a year.
Compare Shieldsville with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Shieldsville. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Shieldsville represents the same real quantity as a 60 anywhere else, and the ranking is a weighted average of those absolutes. The map colors come from a national scale calibrated against a population weighted random sample of 5,000 neighborhoods. That absolute scoring is what no other places-to-live ranking does: it puts a single neighborhood, a town, a metro, and a state on one scale, so the same 40 measures answer both which metro to move to and which street inside it to buy on. Read the full methodology.
Shieldsville detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Shieldsville: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Shieldsville: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Shieldsville: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Shieldsville: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Shieldsville detail on related sites:
- CrimeGrade: neighborhood crime rates behind the crime safety score.
- ISPreports.org: provider by provider internet availability and advertised speeds.
- CoverageWatch: the car insurance premiums behind the cheap car insurance score.
Federal and public data:
- U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey: income, home value, rent, vacancy, commute time and mode, educational attainment, home age, age structure, household type, industry, and race.
- NOAA Global Surface Summary of the Day: the daily station record behind the monthly temperatures and the pleasant-day count.
- FAA Passenger Boarding Data: airport size and annual passenger counts.
- Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey: the 30-year fixed rate used in the cost-to-buy estimate.
- FBI Crime Data Explorer: reported offenses behind the tangible crime cost estimate.
- U.S. EPA Air Quality System: five year average air quality index.
- FEMA National Risk Index: expected annual loss from natural hazards.
- CDC PLACES: disease burden, preventable risk, and barriers to care.
- National Center for Education Statistics: school enrollment and assessment inputs behind the school grade.
- FCC National Broadband Map: internet and wireless availability.
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics: employment and job growth behind the local economy score.
- Religious activity uses a proprietary religious signal measurement.
Your priorities
Move a slider to say how much a measure matters. Zero turns it off.